Particularly insulting is the fact Fox and Rivera inherit teams that posted records worse than Cleveland’s 5-11 in 2010.

But then, it’s the respect one might expect when a team’s season records since its last playoff win have been 5-11, a move to Baltimore, 2-14, 3-13, 7-9, 9-8 (including a playoff loss), 5-11, 4-12, 6-10, 4-12, 10-6, 4-12, 5-11 and 5-11.

Adding to the frustration is the track record of the archrival and the ex-Browns in that span. Pittsburgh is in its sixth AFC Championship game, shooting for its fourth Super Bowl.

Baltimore’s Super Bowl win in the 2000-01 season is becoming ancient history, but it is not nearly as fossilized as 1964.

As Chicago, Green Bay, Pittsburgh and the New York Jets eyed their big games, Browns fans needed the Hubble Telescope to see. It’s a long way to the final four.

Or maybe not.

In the eight seasons since the Browns reached the 2002 playoffs, they have gone a collective 43-85.

Before Mike Holmgren became head coach of the Packers in 1992, things had seemed nearly as grim in Green Bay. In the eight seasons prior to Holmgren’s arrival, the Packers were 8-8, 8-8, 4-12, 5-9-1, 4-12, 10-6, 6-10 and 4-2.

With Holmgren in a headset, the Packers went (including results in six postseasons) 9-7, 10-8, 10-8, 13-6, 16-3, 15-4 and 11-6. That’s 74-40 overall.

In the 46 years since the Browns won the 1964 NFL championship, the franchise has won six postseason games.

In the seven years Holmgren was head coach, the Packers won nine postseason games. The Pack hasn’t been back to a Super Bowl since the two he provided in the late ‘90s.

That is the essence of why so many found it so appealing for Holmgren to appoint himself head coach after he fired Eric Mangini three weeks ago.

Instead, he gave the job to a first-time head coach, Pat Shurmur.

This leaves the question of how great an impact Holmgren can have from the president’s chair.

The answer so far: Not much.

Whereas he inherited a 4-12 team in 1992 and quickly had the Packers at 9-7, his first year as Browns president produced the same 5-11 record the team achieved in 2009 without him.

Holmgren is putting a lot of stock in Shurmur.

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“My hope and prayer is that now the changes stop,” he said. “Now the growing and building begins.”

On a cold January day, those words carry a certain chill. It begins NOW? What was the extra year under Eric Mangini for?

A lot depends how Holmgren perceives the dawn of ... whatever.

If growing and building equals the 9-7 Holmgren squeezed out of his first year in Green Bay ...

We’ll guess most Browns fans could live with that.

JAURON’S CHALLENGE

New Defensive Coordinator Dick Jauron is expected to install a 4-3 defense on a Browns team that has used a 3-4 since 2005.

Recently, Mike Tomlin commented on why he retained a 3-4 when he became head coach of the Steelers in 2007 — he ran a 4-3 as defensive coordinator of the Vikings in 2006.

“It wasn’t a difficult decision at all,” Tomlin said. “We had 3-4 personnel, some of the best 3-4 personnel in the world in my opinion, so I wasn’t going to try to fit a square peg in a round hole.

“No question, our personnel was geared toward that. I wanted to add to that and not take away from it, because I don’t have an ego in this thing and neither do the guys. We just focus on putting ourselves in a position to win.

“Switching to a 4-3 or anything of that nature wouldn’t have been conducive to winning.”

EDWARDS AFTERTHOUGHT

A few days before the Browns faced the Jets, here’s what Eric Mangini said about the 2009 trade that sent Braylon Edwards from Cleveland to New York:

“Talking to Braylon, I thought it was important that he get a fresh start, that he go and make the best of that opportunity and that he’d have the chance to do that.

“I was really happy with the guys that we have (from the trade) with Chansi Stuckey. I think everyone is getting to know him a little bit better, and the contributions that he’s made ... and Jason Trusnik. Now Shawn Lauvao ends up being a part of that, and Larry Asante is a young guy who is developing, so ideally when you make a trade it benefits both teams.”

Stuckey fumbled in overtime to help the Jets win at Browns Stadium. Trusnik might not make the 2011 team. Lauvao started one game at right guard and played poorly. Asante was snatched off the practice squad by the Buccaneers.

EXTRA POINTS

• Browns quarterback Colt McCoy says he and Mark Sanchez are “great friends.” They have the same agent, David Dunn. Even though Sanchez is in his second NFL season, he is two months younger than McCoy.

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• There’s plenty of evidence to suggest the Browns aren’t in the same zip code as the Steelers. Yet, a week after New England got waxed on Lake Erie, the Patriots socked it to Pittsburgh

• Lions head coach Jim Schwartz cut his teeth as an NFL coach in Cleveland under Bill Belichick. One thing that drew them together was a taste for loud rock and roll. Here’s Schwartz talking about one of his favorite bands: “How can you not listen to Poison and have a smile on your face.”